Lake Anna Reactor Ranked 7th most At-Risk for Earthquake Damage

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ranked the
earthquake damage risk at all 104 nuclear power plants in this
country. The pair operated by Dominion Power, at Lake Anna in eastern
Louisa County, come in at 7th most ‘at risk’ on the list.Full Report
According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, North Anna 1 and 2
face an annual 1 in 22,727 chance of the core being damaged by an
earthquake and exposing the public to radiation. The national average
for U.S. nuclear plants is a 1 in 74,000 chance.

The top five most at-risk plants are all on the east coast: Indian
Point, north of New York City; the Pilgrim Plant south of Boston,
Limerick outside of Philadelphia, the Sequoyah plants near Chattanooga
Tennessee and Beaver Valley near Pittsburgh. These five plants are at
a higher statistical risk than those along fault lines in California,
for example, because they were not designed for and built in presumed
strong quake danger areas. Since they were constructed the federal
government has revised upwards the quake risks where they are.

According to Jim Norvelle with Dominion Power, North Anna was designed
to withstand a magnitude 5.9 – 6.1 earthquake.